To the Mat
by Cyren Nightsong
Summary: Homeless and alone in the Big Easy, Gianna spends her time watching other people. She gets caught by one of her more angry victims, CM Punk. Circumstance have her stuck with Punk, who just plain gets on her nerves. She's hiding a great deal from everyone including the fact that she 's in a hell of alot more danger than they know
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters. Any copyright infringement is not intentional.

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RAW was in the city of New Orleans, LA, playing at the Superdome. It was the home of the Saints football team; a local team with a bad reputation for being in last place a good part of the time. Their only redeeming year had ended with them winning the Super bowl and making every football crazed Cajun proud. Gianna snuck along the hidden crevices inside the building, watching the wrestlers as they readied themselves for the night's events. She had grown up on wrestling her whole life. It was one of the few things she had had in common with the rest of her co-called family. Gianna was one of the best thieves and lock pickers in the Big Easy. There was hardly a door she couldn't open which is good since she usually had to use that talent to find her a place to sleep when it got too hot or cold. She noticed two pairs of footsteps coming towards the area where she was hiding.

The guy had dark slicked back hair, a beard and what looked like more than a few tattoos. He was dressed in the usual tights but it took her a minute to recognize him from the posters. It was Phillip 'CM Punk' Brooks. She never cared for the man. The other male was a tad humorous in appearance with spikey hair and a pair of purple sunglasses. She could remember a day when a guy would get ribbed most of the day if he even wore purple socks. She lay across the ledge that ran along the top of the wall and listened. Gianna had been taught it was rude to listen in on conversations but she didn't care. Her nose clinched up as she smelled the remnants of an old banana peel.

"What up, Brooks? Tonight is gonna so cool for the fans, seeing the two of us tagging together." Zack looked worried at Punk's frowning face. "What is it? You look frustrated." Punk went up to a set crates and kicked the living hell out of one which nearly made their unknown listener jump out of her pants. He looked up, thinking he heard a noise but shook his head and put it on the back burner. "I like you Zack and I like working with you but it feels like the head honcho has put me on the back burner to keep John in the spotlight. He's not even the champion anymore." It was an understandable complaint but Punk kept kicking himself for letting it bother him so much. He wasn't the whiney type who gripes on not getting his way in things.

Zack looked serious for a moment. "I know it sucks and yes, you have every reason to be ticked about it. Even John is getting uncomfortable with the way they're handling storylines around here. The fans are gonna love ya no matter what. That's why we're here. Sooner or later they'll cut this shit out. Just go out there and do what do best until then." Punk nodded his head. For someone so new to all this, Zack gave some pretty sage advice. Gianna almost wanted to clap. Not many men could put ego aside when they needed to. Zack must be a hell of a lot more than he seemed. She still didn't like Punk that much. In the last half hour she had heard yelling like a crazy person at someone called Eve for bugging him while another girl played clingy with him and he looked like he was hugging cow poop. One of her feet shifted and a pebble dropped to floor and made a sound.

Phil and Zack were on their way back to the locker room when Punk heard another noise. He had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on but decided it better to wait to see if he was right. Gianna made her way to where the guys in the monitoring area were. This was how she watched most of the show that night but she did have to duck down when they were filming near the back area where she was. She noticed when the Champ and Zack were about to make their entrance. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at CM punk when the music hit. Something about the man just ticked her off. She watched the match on one of the monitors from her little bird's nest on the ledge, managing to take bites out the food she had pilfered out of some of the boxes the guys brought with them. It was a good match and she loved watching Zack with the fans. He still kind of had an air of innocence about him that reminded her of someone she had not seen in a very long time.

Her only real trouble came once that very match was over. Punk came through the curtain all sweaty and looking a tad tired. Zack was still amped and bouncing around backstage like he was a bunny rabbit. Gianna nicknamed him Tigger since she didn't know his real name just yet. Punk and he were discussing where to go for some food since someone had taken theirs. She muffled a small laugh. He heard it again and now he was sure someone had been spying on them. "Ok. Come on out. I know someone is hiding up there. I heard you four times, messing around up there. You some kind of pervert or maybe a thief? About right one of you ugly rednecks would be spying on complete strangers." Oh that did it. Gianna was pissed and once he got close enough she smashed the moldy banana peel she has found in his face and made a run for it.

All Punk could see is nasty fruit until he remove the peeling and waved for Zack to follow him. They booked it after the spy but he or she was fast. Gianna executed a flip and landed near a group of the other wrestlers. "Shit." She kept running, making her way through a group of security and managing to make it outside. That was when she felt the tugging on her arm. Punk had caught up with this wannabe spy, grabbing of hold of her arm. He was a little surprised to see that it was a girl. "What the hell are you playing at, little miss? Why were you hiding on the wall?" Before he could get an answer she hit him square in the face with a pair of brass knuckles. She took off running again, heading towards the back part of arena, looking for a place to hide. All she found was more trouble.

Tigger had her up and over his shoulder. "Sorry, miss. Punk is a little out of it tonight. Its better off that I caught ya and he didn't" In the back part of her mind, Gianna had to admit he was right and after that blow she dealt him, he wasn't going to be on the friendly side. "Guess that I should say merci then?" Zack was taken aback at how mature that voice sounded. This wasn't any teenager or child; this was a full grown woman. "I would be thinking of how to say I'm sorry to cool down my friend." Gianna snorted. "No way in all that is holy would I apologize to that royal prick." Zack had to laugh. This girl had guts to her and judging from her attire, she was probably homeless too.

Punk finally caught up with them, holding one side of his face. "You're very lucky it was Zack who got to you, lil spy. Right now, I could throttle the life out of you." Gianna scoffed. "You wouldn't be the first to try, asshole."

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**A**/**N: Hope you guys have enjoyed the first chapter o f 'To the Mat'. I will also updating on this real soon since I am a Punk fanatic.**


	2. Chapter 2

Gianna just smirked at him, waiting for the next smartass remark. She pulled at her captor arms but Tigger had an awful good grip on him. "Now, scamp. Tell me what you were up to." She gave him a incredulous look. "Plotting world domination. What did it look like I was doing?" Zack put her down on her feet but the two had her enclosed so that she couldn't run. "I was watching the damn show." Punk scoffed. "And helping yourself to a few things while you were at it too, I bet." She had to resist the urge to knee him in the stomach. "Food. I stole food. Nothing any of you couldn't replace." He growled at her. "In the old days they used to cut off the hands of thieves." She just smiled. "You'd be hard pressed to accomplish that given the fact that I managed to get away from you so easily. How's the jaw, by the way?" Zack held back a laugh and Punk glared at him. "We could try the police for that smart mouth of yours. I'm sure they could send a kid like you back to juvie." She was far from a child and couldn't afford to be caught by Detective Dumont. The man had been looking for since she was 18 years old and he was dangerous. She looked to Zack who she was betting had more of a sympathetic streak in him."Dude, she is just a kid."

"Who is this?" Punk grimaced. Zack smiled up at A.J. "This is apparently the little phantom that has been hiding in the backstage area all night. Punk caught her watching us." The younger girl swatted at the man. "And you're threatening her? Any human being with a brain can tell the girl's homeless." Truth be told, Gianna knew she was maybe a year or two older than this woman but held her tongue. If they wanted to see her as a kid, she wasn't going to correct them. A.J. put an arm around her. "The show's over. How about we get you a nice shower and some fresh cloths. No way is it healthy to be going around like this." Punk rolled his eyes. A.J. was a sweet girl but was going to get taken advantage of one day. "She'll steal you blind, April."

The woman paid no attention and practically dragged Gianna off towards the cars. At the hotel, A.J. let her use her shower. Gianna came out wearing just a towel, trying to dry her long hair with a towel. That shower had felt so good after all this time. A.J. sat on the bed studying her. The girl was more astute than people gave her credit for. "You're definitely not a kid." She smirked. "I think I may be older than you as well. Look I wasn't out to pull a con on anyone tonight. That asshole, Punk, nibbling on someone's sandwich and freaked." The younger girl giggled."I heard you socked him in the jaw real good. He's gonna be brooding about that for a long while." Gianna had the feeling that she was going to like the woman.

*First person*

I looked around for my clothing and saw that A.J. had laid out something for me. It was a Zack Ryder T-shirt and a pair of jeans that looked to be my size. "Zack brought the shirt while you were in the shower. He figured you would need something clean to wear and the jeans are an old pair I had in my suitcase. Looks like they should fit just fine." I was touched by the help but couldn't help but wonder what inspired the charity. "Why are you doing all this.?" I sat down on the bed across from her and just looked at her. She took a deep breath, obviously thinking over whether or not to share the personal bit of information. "My grandmother was homeless for a good part of her teen years. Her father died from a heart attack and they lost the house. She used to tell me the stories about how she survived. Once she got out of that life she never forgot it. The stories have stayed with me." I felt my heart soften towards her. "I've been on the streets for a long time. Not many people do what you did or what Zack did. I appreciate it."

From outside the room you could hear Punk. "Did I miss out on some female bonding?" Obviously they felt at ease enough with each other just to walk in but I was still not dressed. I yelped and jumped back, holding the clothing to my bare skin. "Do you know how to knock, Asshole?!" Punk just stared, making me more nervous. "Not exactly the kid we thought you were." A.J. tried to pull Punk out of the room. "Phil, let the girl dress, for Christ's sake." She almost had him through the door and he was still griping. "That is a grown woman, probably some kind of criminal not a lost puppy dog you can take in." A.J. wanted to kick him. Ever since they had found this girl he had been acting like a complete prick. "Not every person that comes off the street is there because they were a criminal."

I laughed as I heard the door finally shut. "I guess that slug to the jaw pissed him off worse than I thought." His attitude towards me didn't change even as the days went by. A.J. managed to get me a job backstage handling stuff for the other superstars. I didn't mind since it was honest work but every so often I would have to deal with his highness. Once Punk and I would get into it,t he guys would start placing bets on who would make who blow a fuse first. I mainly stuck around with A.J., since we had kind of bonded. It had been two months since the night Punk had chased me down. It was early afternoon and I was trying to get some work done but Matt Cardona or Zack Ryder was playing keep away with my phone. "Mattie, how old are you?! TWO?!"He just laughed and threw it over to my mortal enemy, Punk. "Can't say I like your taste in phones,Gia." I grabbed it out of his hand. "Then giving it back won't bother you that much." I smacked his hand like a bad little boy.

We were in the backstage area of the next arena on the schedule. I looked around to see where Matt had gone and found myself alone with the wannabe bad boy. "What's the matter, hun? That time of the month?" I sidestepped to attempt to kick him and it went horribly wrong. Punk caught my foot with his but instead of tripping me up, he brought the both of us down with him landing on top of me. I could barely breath with his girth on top of me. "Get off of me, you idiot." He smirked. "I know how much of a thrill that was for you." He slowly got off of me but was eying me in a weird way. I stood up slowly and brushed off my outfit. "I think I need a bath now." Punk gave a fake laugh and pinned me against the wall. I was eye to eye with the man that had been a thorn in my side since day one. We just stared at each other until someone cleared his throat. "Gia?"

Anthony Carelli (or Santino Marella) was standing there wondering what was going on. "May I have a moment of your time?" Phil slowly let me go. There was something else going on in those eyes but I couldn't really see it. What was wrong with him? "Sure, Tony. What do you need?"

*A.J.'s POV*

It was getting frigging annoying how those two kept circling each other. There was a pool going on on when they would end up sleeping with each other. It was obvious to everyone but the two of them that there was a very strong animal attraction between them. It was bright and vibrant every time they argued. Not to mention all the time she had caught one of them staring at the other. She had a plan on how to finally get this to stop and have peace backstage for good. A.J. found Matt running from another encounter with the deadly duo and sidelined him. Matt scratched his head. "You know if this doesn't work, he'll probably skin me alive. Not to mention what Gia will do to us." She rolled her eyes."I think I can handle my best friend. They'll thank us for this. Believe me."

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AN: Uh Oh! Wait till you see what they're gonna try to do...


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